Former President Donald Trump didn’t hold back in his criticism of Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) as he prepared to launch his presidential campaign. Trump accused DeSantis of voting to overhaul entitlement programs while serving as a congressman, which, in Trump’s opinion, would doom him in the general election. Trump took to Truth Social to express his concerns about DeSantis’s support for legislation targeting Social Security and Medicare:
“Ron DeSanctus can’t win the General Election (or get the Nomination) because he VOTED TO OBLITERATE SOCIAL SECURITY, EVEN WANTING TO RAISE THE MINIMUM AGE TO 70 (or more!), VOTED TO BADLY WOUND MEDICARE, AND FOUGHT HARD AND VOTED FOR A 23% ‘TAX ON EVERYTHING’ SALES TAX.”
Trump went on to claim that DeSantis was influenced by “horrible RINO Paul Ryan” and others, and suggested he needed a personality transplant, which, as far as Trump knew, was not yet medically possible.
MAGA Inc, a super PAC aligned with Trump, has also been critical of DeSantis regarding his votes on entitlement programs. The super PAC released ads highlighting DeSantis’s support for cuts to Social Security and Medicare. One ad referred to DeSantis as having “pudding fingers” that were “all over senior entitlements.”
As a congressional candidate, DeSantis expressed support for Rep. Paul Ryan’s proposal to privatize aspects of Medicare and Social Security. He also backed the Republican Study Committee’s budget plan, which aimed to balance the federal budget within four years by partially privatizing Medicare and raising the retirement age to 70.
Another ad labeled DeSantis as “Ron DeSalesTax” and accused him of wanting to make people pay more, referencing a nursery rhyme in the process.
In an earlier post, Trump mentioned that DeSantis sought his help during the 2018 Florida Republican gubernatorial nomination race, where he was losing badly. Trump endorsed DeSantis and held rallies that contributed to his victory. However, Trump referred to DeSantis as “DISLOYAL!!!” for reasons undisclosed.
These critical posts from Trump come as DeSantis is about to launch his presidential bid with an event on the social media platform Truth Social, featuring a conversation with CEO Elon Musk.
